Recently, A Choice of History: Marxism and the Birth of the CPC, a Party history featured film edited and produced by the Multimedia Press under the Publishing & Media Group of the Open University of China (OUC), was successfully included in the list of topics for key publications in 2021 announced by the General Office of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.

In the face of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and great changes not seen in a century, how to give full play to experiences and advantages in resource construction has become a top priority for publishing and media groups in recent years. A Choice of History: Marxism and the Birth of the CPC is a special film on party history launched by the OUC Publishing & Media Group after a year of re-planning on the basis of the ideological and political course constructed by the School of Marxism under the overall planning of the OUC Learning Resources Department (Digital Library). Produced based on the principle of making a blockbuster, the film focuses on the red starting point of the CPC and presents the great process of Marxism and the birth of the CPC.

General Secretary Xi Jinping has stressed that “We must not forget the way we go before we move forward. No matter how far we go and how glorious the future is, we can’t forget the past and why we started.” In order to tell a good story and bring alive the magnificent history of the founding of the CPC, the  film emphasises disciplinary systematicness in its content design. Experts engaged in Marxist theoretical research and construction projects from the CPC Central Committee were invited to a series of meetings to discuss the course design, script, and presentation method. They reviewed the content, revised the manuscripts word by word, and recorded voice-over interpretations to match the large number of audio files and images, which helped to create a historical panoramic of the introduction of Marxism into China, the birth of the CPC, the great creation of CPC in leading hundreds of millions of its struggles under the guidance of Marxism, and clearly present the internal relationship between Marxism and the CPC. Through the description of the difficulties and hardships the CPC has faced during its history, the film not only aims to bring audiences back to history, but to learn from the mirror of the history. In addition to inspiring the creators to devote themselves to creation in the whole process, the short films also have a strong visual impact that helps the audience understand principles, seek truth and reason, and realise the great rejuvenation of the nation under the leadership of the Party.

Publishing units from regions and departments throughout China have carefully organised and applied for 2,232 topics, including 1,934 topics for books and 298 topics for audio-visual and electronic publications, for the thematic publishing project according to the work deployment of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee on thematic publishing in 2021. After review, 170 topics, including 145 topics for books and 25 topics for audio-visual and electronic publications, were selected for key publications in 2021. The inclusion of A Choice of History: Marxism and the Birth of the CPC in the list of topics of key publications of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee marks the first honour of the OUC Publishing & Media Group in this regard. It is also another major breakthrough for the OUC Publishing & Media Group to win a national publishing award after it received the Chinese Outstanding Publication Award and the Chinese Government Award for Publishing and won financial support from the National Publication Foundation.

 By OUC Publishing & Media Group